Donadoni thanks Dutch

Italy coach Roberto Donadoni was quick to pay tribute to Holland after seeing them play a large part in his team's qualification for the Euro 2008 quarter-finals.

PUBLISHED: PUBLISHED: 08:16, Wed, Jun 18, 2008

Roberto Donadoni

On a dramatic night in Group C, Italy defeated France 2-0 thanks to goals by Andrea Pirlo and Daniele De Rossi to leapfrog Romania, who lost 2-0 to the Dutch, into second place in the table.

"I never questioned Holland's commitment," Donadoni said. "When I was asked if I had phoned Marco van Basten (the Holland coach) to say, 'Make sure you win', I said I would have been offended."

Van Basten put out a largely second-string team against the Romanians as they had already secured top spot but they still clinched a third straight tournament win.

Donadoni felt there was never any doubt Holland would throw the result in order to give them a supposedly easier route to the final.

"It was ridiculous to even have doubts. It is one of the worst things you can even think about. If you have ambitions and love football, you can't even think of these things. So it is good that Holland played well."

Italy will play Spain in the quarter-finals in Vienna on Sunday, but France head home having finished bottom of the group with just one point and one goal to their name.

Luck was against them on Tuesday night - star playmaker Franck Ribery was carried off on a stretcher in the seventh minute with an ankle injury and Eric Abidal was sent off 18 minutes later for hauling down Luca Toni in the box, resulting in Pirlo dispatching the spot-kick.

France coach Raymond Domenech, who proposed to his partner Estelle Denis on French television moments after the final whistle, remained upbeat, saying: "Yes, I am disappointed. But after seeing the match and the players in the dressing room, I am proud of what they have shown.

"We lost a player, then saw Italy get a penalty and our player was sent off. That was a turning point. That handed the result to Italy but I told them (the players) I am proud of what they did. I am proud to be their head coach. It is impossible to succeed having so many catastrophes on the pitch."

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